BBC ‘LAUNCHES BITTER LAST-MINUTE ANTI-BREXIT ONSLAUGHT’: Chris Hastings (Mail 3/1) said that BBC broadcasters and presenters had launched ‘ a bitter last-ditch onslaught against Brexit in the New Year schedules. He added that the UK’s departure from the EU on December 31 had coincided with what critics had said were ‘ill-tempered tirades, offensive remarks and heavily biased reportage’. Among them were:
- Comedian Nish Kumar, appearing on Graham Norton’s BBC1 New Year’s Eve special, had described Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage as ‘a sack of meat brought to life by a witch’s curse’, adding, ‘now we have finally completed Brexit, I predict we will have a taste for leaving things and will vote to leave more stuff, starting with the continent of Europe, then the United Nations and finally the Earth by strapping rockets under the country and blasting off into space.’
- Another comedian, Frankie Boyle, hosting a special edition of his BBC2 show ‘New World Order’, had said that Brexit was like finding cancer had spread to the walls of your house, and that, sooner or later, Britain would ‘re-enter Europe’ – as refugees.
- In News output, business editor Simon Jack had spoken of firms facing ‘a mountain of new paperwork’ to deal with trade with the EU; politics editor Laura Kuenssberg had also warned of extra paperwork covering trade and holidays; and Katya Adler, the Europe editor, had also spoken of difficulties with trade.
Mr Hastings reported that the BBC had responded by stating that the corporation was ‘impartial on all topics’ and featured a variety of different perspectives.